The new Hibiscus cultivar is a product of a planned breeding program conducted by the inventor in Middenbeemster The Netherlands. The objective of the breeding program was to produce new Hibiscus syriacus varieties with double flowers on dwarf plants. The crossing resulting in this new variety was made during 2002.
The seed parent is the unpatented Hibiscus syriacus ‘Russian Violet’, the pollen parent is the proprietary variety ‘Summer Holiday’, filed concurrently (U.S. Plant patent application Ser. No. 15/530,764). The new variety was identified as a potentially interesting selection during 2005. Selection was made at a research nursery in Middenbeemster, the Netherlands.
Asexual reproduction of the new cultivar ‘SUMMER FESTIVAL’ was first performed in February 2014 at a commercial nursery in Hazerswoude, The Netherlands. Vegetative soft wood cuttings were grafted onto an unnamed, unpatented Hibiscus syriacus rootstock. Subsequent propagation has shown that the unique features of this cultivar are stable and reproduced true to type in 6 successive generations.